While that might seem confounding it all has to do with the type and price of energy used in Colorado, according to an analysis by the federal Energy Information Administration based on its 2009 Residential Energy Consumption Survey

Colorado households consume 103 million British thermal units of energy a year. (A Btu is the amount of energy it takes to heat one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit.) The bill: a little more than $1,500 a year.

“Since the weather in Colorado is cooler than other areas of the United States, space heating accounts for more than half of household energy use,” the analysis says.

Home heating takes up 54 percent of the Btus and hot water heating another 19 percent. That 74 percent of the Colorado household energy budget is largely fueled by natural gas. Natural gas prices in the Rocky Mountain region have consistently lower than national prices.

Air conditioning one of the biggest sources of electric demand makes up just 1 percent of the Btus consumed by the average Colorado household. Appliances, electronics and lighting make up another 26 percent of demand.

While Colorado electricity residential rates are lower – 11.6 cents a kilowatt-hour in May 2013 compared with a national average 12.4 cents – Colorado households don’t use all that much of it.

Colorado household electricity consumption is below the national average.

A New Jersey household’s energy profile isn’t very different than one from Colorado – home and watering heating are two-thirds of the household energy demand, with air condition, lighting, electronics and appliances making up the other third.

Energy, however, doesn’t come cheaply in New Jersey and the average household pays $3,065 a year for its 127 million Btus – about 65 percent more per Btu than Colorado.

In Florida, 50 percent of the Btus are used for air conditioning and electricity makes up 90 percent of the energy used. But Florida’s average retail residential electricity rate 11.29 cents is even lower than Colorado’s. Florida households spent about $2,000 a year for energy.

Over the past 20 years, the use of air conditioning has increased in all regions of the United States, but this increase has been most pronounced in the South, the EIA says.

Since 1993, electricity consumed for air conditioning in the South has increased 43 percent and now accounts for 21 percent of all electricity consumption in the region. Nationally, electricity consumed for air conditioning has increased 39% since 1993, but only accounts for 14 percent of all electricity consumed. Remember the figure for Colorado was 1 percent — but after the string of scorching days the state has suffered this summer, maybe that is changing.